This is my first car PC install. I have no prior experience with car wiring or car audio. I do have experience in building computers and I am a programmer by trade. I'm going to try and include some of the details that are normally overlooked by more experienced installers and all my mistakes too.

Part 1 (Research)

I started out by reading the forums on this site. The FAQs are a good place to start. I also picked up 2 used books on Amazon:

Car PC Hacks by Damien Stolarz

Geek My Ride by Auri Rahimzadeh

The books work best after you have already done some basic reading.

The next step was to start looking into how to build a computer for use in a car. I decided to go mini-itx so I could put all the components in the space behind where the stock head unit used to go. My other goals were as follows:

Components need to be as light as possible.

Retain the original look of the car interior as much as possible.

Part 2 (Gathering Parts)

Using Google I shopped around for the best prices for the components I wanted. Be sure to look at shipping costs when ordering. Also, try and group items from the same supplier to minimize the shipping.

While the computer hardware was lightweight, the car audio (amplifier in particular) can become heavy. I looked at many amplifiers looking at weight vs. performance. The Alpine PDX-4.100 was only 6 pounds and gave the performance I wanted. Other amplifiers I looked at were the Kicker 06ZX700.5 and MB Quart PAB 5400.

The screen I'm using is an 8" Lilliput. This will just barely fit into the area where the head unit was. I was not going to be able to use a kit to mount the screen so I needed to fabricate the faceplate to accommodate it. I picked up another faceplate from my local Ford dealer for about $60 so I could work on it without having my stock one out.

My idea was to integrate the screen bezel from the Lilliput into the faceplate. To do this I had to get the Dremel out and do some cutting on both parts.

The faceplate needed the area where the head unit went to be slightly taller and wider to accommodate the screen bezel. I used the bezel to mark the areas where I needed to cut.

The screen bezel needed to be cut shorter so I removed the area where the buttons are. I can relocate this elsewhere in the car.

I also cut the back bezel of the screen to match height of the front. This way I could just screw the parts back together when the screen is inside the faceplate. You will need to shave some of the sides of the back bezel so it will fit between the metal supports when it is installed. I went right up to where the screws were.

The screen bezel now can fit inside the area I expanded in the faceplate. I then did the following steps:

Using some glue I fixed the two pieces together
Filled the gaps with some Epoxy plastic
Sanded the gaps with 200 grit
Added some filler bondo to finish up some of the rough spots
Tape off the sides where the faceplate is not seen when installed
Sanded everything with 400 grit
Paint with grey filler primer
wet sand with 400, prime again and wet sand with 800
Final coat was SEM interior satin black

Make sure the areas where the top buttons for info/reset/etc do not get too much paint build up so they stick. Sand these areas between coats.

If I was to do this again I would have made the following changes:
Roll the Epoxy plastic into long strips to fill in the gaps.
The bondo is not as flexible as the plastic and it came up a bit.
I would have used the Epoxy again to finish or found something else than the bondo.

I chose TinyXP Beast for the OS. It was light and gave me a good base to start with. Here is how the install went:

Burn the TinyXP iso to CD
Connect the power supply and power on switch to the motherboard
Connect the screen to the motherboard
Attach the hard drive to IDE1 (You will need a 2.5” to 3.5” IDE converter)
Attach a CD drive to IDE2
Put in the bootable TinyXP install disk you created
Boot the computer and install TinyXP
Reboot and make sure the install worked
Install the RAID drivers for SATA
Power down and switch the hard drive to use the SATA on the Vantec EZ SWAP

In my case I also had to install Windows Media Player 11, .NET 2.0 Framework, and the Phidget driver.

I developed the front end using Visual Studio 2005. I designed the interface to look like the stock head unit to retain the same “look” for the interior. The Phidget encoder knob worked great and I will use it to change the volume and select media. This way I do not have to touch the screen all the time.

07-19-2007, 04:03 AM

wraaaa

thanks for the great write up. and the front end looks amazing too. i also might order one of those phidget encoders myself. i'm working on my mustang as well and have a similar setup, but my progress is a little bit behind yours right now. if you can be as detailed as you have been when you're writing up how to wire the power supply to the battery, you'll save me from many headaches. are you powering the monitor from the power supply too? i don't really know what i'm doing with any of the power stuff yet. good luck with everything!

07-19-2007, 10:48 AM

Hessian

Wires, sound cards and DirectShow

Wiring is the part that I will have trouble with. I'm hoping someone on here can help out. I think the screen will be powered by the motherboard. I read somewhere on here where the 2005 Mustangs have a 12v in the wiring harness that I can hook the power to.

Found out last night my TVFM card needs a line in for audio. I was planning on using the 3 connections for 5.1 sound. I might have to get an external sound card. SB Live! or something like that. Hate to spend cash on something already on the motherboard.

The front end is moving along well. Trying to figure out how to get the FM and TV stations into the interface. DirectShow looks to be a good direction to go in.

Tested the Engenius Wireless Adapter and it worked awsome.

07-19-2007, 01:05 PM

2 STanGeR

Give me a minute to put my words together and gather my pictures, and I will have a walk through on the battery power.

07-23-2007, 08:58 AM

Hessian

Fitment

Spent the weekend checking fitment and cutting out mounts for the motherboard, power supply and harddrive.

To account for the bigger 8" screen I had to cut into the climate controls. No problems with breaking anything. The brains are towards the back. I covered the cutout with tape for added insurance.

Great install Hessian! Being a noob, I want to purchase a G4 but don't want to cut into the dash. your advice, would I have to to accomodate it in the factory radio location? The last thing I want to do is cut into my 'Stang.